This paper aims to present a profile of students registered in the Professional Training Courses for Nursing Auxiliaries and Complementation Courses for Nursing Technicians of the Nursing Worker Professionalization Project - PROFAE. This quantitative study was carried out in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from August 2004 to January 2005, through the application of 1,400 questionnaires. Data analysis used descriptive statistics, with simple frequencies and percentages. After tabulation, data were divided in the following categories: sociodemographic data, educational background, family profile, habits, professional activity, salary range, expectations about PROFAE and nursing, difficulties to participate in the project and the teaching-learning process. Students/workers graduated from the PROFAE program tend to improve the quality of hospital and outpatient care, contributing to labor market dynamics in the health sector.
credentialing; nursing; teaching
